Nearly Live from Oosterdam Med Empires June 13th - 25th.

[Cruising-along]

23 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I am surprised that Neptune Suites do not have a special RS breakfast menu like some other cruise lines. The Neptune's have so much room and even  nice tables to enjoy breakfast in the cabin and on the balcony.

Deleted -- sorry

Edited June 15, 2022 by Cruising-along

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@kazuIs the room service menu you posted from a Neptune Suite?  I don't ever remember having that many hot breakfast item choices available for room service in my standard balcony cabin.

 

Testing my memory are we?  😂  I believe it probably was IIRC but back then it made no difference if you were in a Neptune Suite or not.  The breakfast menu was the same for everyone.  Remember, it’s around 6 years ago 😉 And there were definitely different omelettes on the menu.  There were in 2019 too - just can’t lay my hands on the card pic currently.

[terrydtx]

20 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Testing my memory are we?  😂  I believe it probably was IIRC but back then it made no difference if you were in a Neptune Suite or not.  The breakfast menu was the same for everyone.  Remember, it’s around 6 years ago 😉 And there were definitely different omelettes on the menu.  There were in 2019 too - just can’t lay my hands on the card pic currently.

Our last pre covid cruise was in July 2019 on the Noordam in a signature suite, and I remember a much more extensive breakfast RS menu along the lines of the one you posted from 2017.

 

The menu Vmax posted earlier actually matches the one in the Navigator app. The app does not show any Suites only menus for room service either.

Edited June 15, 2022 by terrydtx

[kazu]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Our last pre covid cruise was in July 2019 on the Noordam in a signature suite, and I remember a much more extensive breakfast RS menu along the lines of the one you posted from 2017.

 

The menu Vmax posted earlier actually matches the one in the Navigator app. The app does not show any Suites only menus for room service either.

 

IIRC, the suite room service breakfast had an add on in 2019 - some types of eggs benedict and the mimosas, smoothie and I think the Bloody Mary were free.  It seems to me a couple of other things were too.

I don’t think the app ever showed the Suite room service breakfast to prevent confusion.  I remember we could see it in 2019 - but it was just the standard room service breakfast.  I was doing a LIVE thread and one of my roll call members let me take a pic of their room service menu for comparison sake.  I think I posted them both but once CC changed their forum a lot of my pics posted from tap a talk disappeared, sadly.

[Torquer]

In the couple years before covid, PS and NS had an expanded room service menu over normal rooms, including several hot entrees.  This included mimosas (which I had a couple times) and maybe bloody marys (which I did not).  Now that I think of it, it actually might have been included with club orange too, which automatically includes PS and NS.  I do remember in the club orange dining room getting offered mimosas, so it could have been for everyone in club orange that also got the expanded room service menu.

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Today I brought water onboard in plastic bottles (gasp, horror!)

I had noticed crew purchasing water in town, so I bought a small amount to see what would happen.  It only cost €5 for 6 bottles, so I was quite prepared to lose it if necessary.

And here is the proof, staff member returning with water!

 

When I re entered the ship, all the security staff had packs of water stored beside them 😁

You daredevil 😜.  Ever since you tried this the last time I've tested the waters as well.  I brought one on the koningsdam in Nov and March with no problem.  I was also prepared to lose it. I took the bottle off with me and chucked it at the airport so they didn't have to deal with any plastic.  Interesting about the crew as well.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Princess has one hot food item for breakfast.  It is their take on an Egg McMuffin and it is disgusting. 

That's right, I had forgotten about that.  Probably for good reason 😜

[Torquer]

Question on MDR service

 

@VMax1700Thanks for your continuing coverage of your cruise.  The info on the train in Katakolon was very useful for our planning.

 

Now a couple of questions on the MDR.  Are both levels of the dining room open on your cruise?  We have heard on some ships that the upper level is closed due to few passengers.

 

How is the service in the MDR and also the line to get in?  We have read it has been slow on some ships and want to hear about Oosterdam.

[Florida_gal_50]

11 minutes ago, Torquer said:

In the couple years before covid, PS and NS had an expanded room service menu over normal rooms, including several hot entrees.  This included mimosas (which I had a couple times) and maybe bloody marys (which I did not).  Now that I think of it, it actually might have been included with club orange too, which automatically includes PS and NS.  I do remember in the club orange dining room getting offered mimosas, so it could have been for everyone in club orange that also got the expanded room service menu.

Yes, I'm pretty sure club orange was included in that.

[VMax1700]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

You daredevil 😜.  Ever since you tried this the last time I've tested the waters as well.  I brought one on the koningsdam in Nov and March with no problem.  I was also prepared to lose it. I took the bottle off with me and chucked it at the airport so they didn't have to deal with any plastic.  Interesting about the crew as well.

Great info thank you!  That gives me a second line of defence if ship security get upset tomorrow when I bring back some more.  First line of defence will be the 'photographic evidence' of complicity within the crew and the second line of defence will be 'precedent' and I will show them your 'confession'. 😁

 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, VMax1700 said:

Great info thank you!  That gives me a second line of defence if ship security get upset tomorrow when I bring back some more.  First line of defence will be the 'photographic evidence' of complicity within the crew and the second line of defence will be 'precedent' and I will show them your 'confession'. 😁

 

I love these experiments 🤣😜

[VMax1700]

9 minutes ago, Torquer said:

Question on MDR service

Now a couple of questions on the MDR.  Are both levels of the dining room open on your cruise?  We have heard on some ships that the upper level is closed due to few passengers.

 

How is the service in the MDR and also the line to get in?  We have read it has been slow on some ships and want to hear about Oosterdam.

We are really not MDR people and have only eaten there once so far, which was last night on first gala night.  I forgot to check if both levels were open or not.  Last night the queue was short and manageable when we arrived for our 7.30 reservation and only had a short wait.  I did notice that even those with Club Orange were having to wait for a table.  Dinner service itself was friendly and although slow to start, we were comfortably finished dessert within 90 minutes.  We have absolutely no problem with taking up to 2 hours for dinner.  It is an event and we enjoy eating and chatting as much as the actual food (and we do enjoy food!)  But 90 minutes on a first Gala night is pretty good.

Tomorrow night we are in Pinnacle, but I am sure we will venture in MDR again before we disembark.  I will take a walk to MDR over the next few days and check if both levels are open or not.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

6 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Today's menus for MDR and Lido dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And today's lunch menu from Lido:

 

@VMax1700 I am really enjoying your food pics and menus and I am finding interesting the slight differences between ship . It may be the same item but named different or totally switching out types of fish like today’s menu on the Rotterdam.

 

[VMax1700]

Quarantine Cabins.

 

This evening I took a walk around the decks to see if I could find which section of cabins were blocked off as quarantine cabins.

Turns out that on deck 6 forward of the forward elevators are blocked off on both sides.   Could be for crew quarantining as I believe I read on another thread that there were new staff on board.

 

 

[VMax1700]

6 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

It may be the same item but named different or totally switching out types of fish like today’s menu on the Rotterdam.

@LAFFNVEGAS  The 'redfish' was definitely not halibut.  I had it for dinner tonight and I believe it is the same fish as served in Andalucia as 'Rosada Plancha'.  I understand it is not a local Spanish fish, but comes from the Southern coast of South Africa and is called 'Genypterus Capensis' or Kingklip.  It certainly tasted the same as Rosada and had the same texture.  It was really nice.

When we go to Malaga (twice a year at least!) I always have some Rosada Plancha (grilled with garlic, olive oil and parsley) or Rosada Frita (deep fried in a tempura style batter).  

[VMax1700]

Tonight's moon over the south coast of greece

[cat shepard]

8 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Tonight's moon over the south coast of greece

A true Strawberry moon! Gorgeous!

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

7 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

A piece of history was moored beside us in Katakolo today:

 

 

 

I suppose only those of a certain age will recognise the name.

 

7 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

There are multiple ways of getting to Olympia.  

Bus, which is just outside the port gates, across the road costs €15 per person.  30 minutes drive to the village, 2 hours free time and then 30 minutes back to katakolo.  The guy I was speaking to, told me that he was the guide and he had excellent english.

 

There were taxis available but I did not ask the price.

 

The train mentioned by @Heartgrove costs €10 return, but has only one  departure time! 8.40 am with the return at 1.10 pm.  It is running as I watched it depart this morning.

 

  

I recognized the ChristinaO.  We saw her anchored a few times off the coast of France about 20 or so years ago.

 

I don't think the train was running in 2019 when we were in Kotakolon.  The bus then was 8€ to 10€ depending on which person you talked to.  We had a car reserved that day for about $90 US, and they would not drop the price.  We cancelled  the reservation and paid 8€/pp for the bus.  The two hours in Olympia gave us plenty of time.

 

 

 

[srnash]

On 6/13/2022 at 1:28 PM, johnnyswitzerland said:

@VMax1700, can you tell me if there's an excursion from Souda/Chania, Crete to Knossos Palace?  I understand it's quite far away (around 2 hours by car) and more visited from Heraklion, but it's such an important and popular site.  Are they offering anything?  I couldn't find the answer on the HAL website.  Thanks!

There are local tours from Chania to Knossos on Trip Advisor, but the shortest I saw was 9 hours. It takes 2 hours to go from Chania to Heraklion. I don't know how much time you have in Souda on your trip, but maybe rent a car? It's well worth seeing but quite a distance from Souda. 

[srnash]

On 6/14/2022 at 3:31 AM, terrydtx said:

We are doing the same a mini van 4 the four of us $433 total from Venice city  to the port. We will be at the ship by 11:00 the time the first X shuttles are scheduled to leave Venice. We hope to avoid the crowds and be onboard for lunch by noon.

I wish you well with your plan! I was told by our HAL CC that the first group for check in is scheduled for noon so they may not even be ready for you. I don't know how much they are keeping people to their assigned times or if they are even checking. 

[VMax1700]

Greetings from Piraeus, Athens.

Here is today's When & Where:

 

[VMax1700]

Todays MDR and Lido Dinner menus.

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by VMax1700

[VMax1700]

Today's Lido lunch menu:

 

[terrydtx]

7 hours ago, srnash said:

I wish you well with your plan! I was told by our HAL CC that the first group for check in is scheduled for noon so they may not even be ready for you. I don't know how much they are keeping people to their assigned times or if they are even checking. 

We were told that our Aug 21 cruise boarding will begin at 11:00am, we are still too far out to check in and get a boarding time. Worse case if we are not allowed to board, we will drop off our bags and explore Trieste and get lunch, that is plan B. My wife and sister already have bought pedicures and manicures in the spa begging at 1:45pm so we need to board by 1pm.

Edited June 16, 2022 by terrydtx

[VMax1700]

We are dock at Terminal B 'Themistocles'.

Just outside the terminal was a line of taxis awaiting customers.  They where available most of the morning.  

There were 3 HOHO bus lines available, Blue, Red and Green.  All with different routes.

Also just outside the terminal was the X80 bus terminal.  24 hour ticket €4.10

Buses depart every 20/30 minutes.